Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

November 12th, 1942

Cosenza - Badoglio holds a conference with generals Messe and Baldassare. He explains to them that, in the present circumstances, the Armata di Levante is the only force, together with the remaining of the Navy, to be able to guarantee the sovereignty of the country and that "all eventualities are to be considered". In these conditions, he adds, "it is necessary to discard, as much as possible, men known for their sympathies towards the fallen regime, from the heads of the army corps to the heads of regiments".
Measures are immediately proposed by Messe, whom Ambrosio had warned of Badoglio's "wishes". Among those dismissed without further ado, consul general Alessandro Lusana, despite his very honorable conduct in Sicily - it is true that his Armored Brigade or what's left of it, is about to be absorbed into the 133rd Armored Division Ariete II. General Enea Navarini, commander of the XXI Corps, is entitled to more consideration: if he is replaced by General Francesco Zingales, he is sent to Greece to head the III Corps. The current head of the III Corps, General Angelo Rossi, does not go far: he takes command of the XXVI CA in place of General Gamaleri, who iscalled to take up a post in the Ministry of War.

Berlin - Hitler sends a dispatch to Badoglio to offer him "air support" for the defense of Italian cities. However, the dispatch also states that, in order to ensure the proper supply of these forces, it is essential that two Luftwaffe divisions (including the Hermann-Göring motorized division) be transferred to Italy.

Maddalena Island - It is on this small island to the north-east of the Sardinian coast that Mussolini was transferred. He has just received a gift from Hitler: a twenty-four volume deluxe edition of Nietzsche's works - enough to occupy his leisure time for a long time...
On the boat that took him from Ponza to Maddalena, the ex-Duce discussed with Admiral Maugeri.
As he was able to read the Italian press, he was indignant that it was attacking his private life and that many editorialists demanded that he be put on trial. Vexed, Mussolini proclaims his love of Italy and declared: "To be liberated by the Germans would mean my return to government under the protection of Hitler's bayonets. It would be the worst humiliation that could be inflicted on me."

 

[Wings]

November 13th, 1942

Shetland Islands - Second special mission for the Orion (LV Rossignol), which transports this time to Mefjord, in Southern Norway, a commando whose role is no longer sabotage but intelligence (operation Upsilon). The main difficulty encountered is the very bad weather, to the point that the submarine could not effectively disembark its passengers until November 28th, before returning to Dundee on December 3rd.

 

[Wings]

November 13th, 1942

Alger - Since his nomination on October 9th, while taking command of his ministry,Charles Tillon begins to evaluate the interest shown in his project for a women's fighter squadron by the main interested parties. The enthusiastic reception he receives from the women pilots convinces him to try to try to implement it.
However, Tillon receives only timid support from his colleagues and is met with skepticism by the parliament and by hostility of the Air Force staff. With the support of the female glories of the aeronautics, he is going to launch a real press campaign.

 

[Wings]

November 13th, 1942

Buna Area - The AIF moves cautiously in the previous days, following the Japanese withdrawal to the Gona-Sanananda-Buna defense perimeter. This advance is punctuated by skirmishes and the AIF command decides to test the Buna defenses to the south first with the 25th Brigade Group. To support his four battalions Brigadier Eather has a total of two 25-pounders, in addition to the mortars of the infantry. Concerned, he asks his officers to be very economical with their troops.
The 2/25th begins by probing the western defenses of Buna by advancing along the Girua River. At this point, the trail is surrounded by marshes. From the first contact with the Japanese, violent heavy machine gun fire interrupts the advance of A Company. On the right, Company B encounters a clearing of kunai grass, which isalso under heavy machine gun fire.
Seeing this, Eather orders his men to fall back to positions where they could dig entrenchments without fear of water infiltration.
A new attack is aimed at the southeast of Duropa Plantation, but this area had been cleared to build an air strip and the attack quickly stalls in the face of well-protected machine gun crossfire. "All the emplacements seem to be made of coconut trunks, which are also used for roofing," Eather says in his report. "The whole thing is camouflaged according to the environment. To the west of the Duropa airstrip, the bunkers are covered with kunai grass; to the east, they are littered with coconut debris and coconut plumes. Most often, the observation holes are very well hidden and the doors are generally invisible. You have to be right in front of (or on top of) a bunker to see it."
A third force is going after the Triangle, a very powerful position 1,200 meters south of the Buna government building. Here again, the attack is quickly halted by well organized defenses.
In total, the attack is a failure, but it cost few men and made it possible to pinpoint exactly what the problem was...

 

[Wings]

November 13th, 1942

Guadalcanal - After their victory of the day before, the men of the 1st Marines Rgt. rest like their comrades of the 6th Rgt, inland. In fact, they are exhausted!
The American command decides to relieve them. Vandegrift and DeCarre bring the 5th and 2nd Regiments (of the 1st and 2nd USMC Divisions respectively) up to the line.
.........
Ironbottom Sound - During the night of the 13th and 14th, Admiral Scott personally leads Task Force 34.1 into the Bay (BB Indiana and Massachusetts, CL Columbia, DD Beatty, Cowie, Doran, Fitch, Forrest, Knight, Mervine, Quick) in order, he says, to "give Indiana some action before shipping him off to the rear" (i.e. Pearl Harbor, on Nimitz's orders). The two battleships and the cruiser carry out a devastating 70-minute shellin of the Japanese positions.
The Japanese forces at Guadalcanal call on Rabaul and Truk for help, but the Imperial Navy is totally surprised. Only Goto is in the area, but he is off to Bougainville. Tanaka must protect a reinforcement convoy to Milne Bay and Lae. Iishi and his patrol boats can only watch the bombardment - every time they try to get close, they are spotted and repulsed by the battleship escort.
While the battleships attract the attention of the Japanese, the transports bringing the 8th Marines land the entire regiment on Red Beach without losing a man.

Solomon Islands - The seaplane supply ship Sanuki Maru returns to the Solomon Islands seaplane force, after a return trip to Japan to repair the damage sustained during its grounding on October 20th.

Nouméa - "There is good news and not so good news today. The good news is that the AC 20 will receive the latest model Wildcat, a gift from the US Marine Corps, officially this time in recognition of our good and loyal service in Guadalcanal! We are all very excited at the prospect of returning to Henderson Field in a couple of weeks with these aircraft, much better than our H-87s, but my personal joy is short-lived - that's the least good news: I won't be there!
On orders from Algiers, I was sent to the United States, it seems that because of my experience on the Lexington, my presence there is necessary for the French Navy! I don't see how my experience on the Lady Lex makes me irreplaceable to participate in the development of a barque like the poor Bois-Belleau, but the brass are inflexible. I plead that I had only been in Guadalcanal for two months, that I had to finish my tour of operations, but I am told that with my time on the Lexington (again) and my injury (well, my big sunburn), I have largely done my three months...
I can't say I'll miss the delicious weather and mosquitoes of Guadalcanal, but I will miss the brotherhood of arms between services and nationalities that I experienced there. I don't know yet that I will find a very similar feeling in a very different climate!
As a souvenir, I still carry a very unofficial decoration, which was awarded to me by a very special committee of the USMC and which remains dear to my heart: the "Guadalcanal medal", that the Marines managed to have made in Australia (in the middle of the war!).
It represents on the obverse an Admiral dropping a hot potato in the hand of a kneeling marine, with these words: "Faciat Georgius" (Let George do it). On the reverse, we see the ass of a cow in the wind of a fan with these words: "In fond remembrance of the happy days spent from Sept. 9th to Nov. 8th, 1942'..." (Y. Lagadec, op. cit.)

Truk - Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi presents to Yamamoto the new organization of the Japanese naval air force.
The Akagi and the Shokaku are to team up, alongside an unchanged Hiryu and Soryu division and a division of light carriers fast enough to follow their big brothers: Ryujo and
Zuiho*. The Akagi and Soryu, severely damaged in the Solomons, will only be operational until March. In the meantime, the other four will continue training their new air groups, which are largely made up of inexperienced crews. They are expected to be accompanied by the three fast battleships Haruna, Hiei and Kirishima (under repair), unless the approach of a decisive confrontation on the surface requires that they join the other battleships - at that time, the Mutsu, the old Hyuga and Yamashiro** and the huge Yamato and Musashi. The carriers will also be associated with the heavy cruisers Tone and Chikuma***.
The Junyo (converted liner) and the Ryuho (converted submarine supply ship, whose trials are coming to an end) should form an auxiliary division, due to their poor speed.
Japan has (or will soon have) three escort carriers,the Taiyo (former liner Kasuga Maru, converted in 1941), the Unyo (former liner Yamata Maru, whose conversion was completed in July 1942) and Chuyo (ex-liner Nitta Maru, whose conversion decided after the battle of the Eastern Solomons, was completed in January 1943). In fact, these mediocre ships were mainly used for training and transporting aircraft, which already freed the Ryujo for more martial tasks.
Finally, the old and small Hosho was relegated to training tasks.
The aircraft that equip the air groups of these carriers are still very similar to those that led the assault on Pearl Harbor (see Japanese Naval Aviation at the end of 1942)

* The Zuiho enjoyed a great visit after its Singapore campaign. The Ryujo performed the thankless but necessary tasks of training pilots and transporting aircraft to the various islands conquered in the Pacific. It also relieved the Junyo, in Singapore, for a well earned grand tour.
** The Mutsu was undergoing repairs until February. After the damage suffered off Singapore, the Hyuga joined Kurita's fleet in October, but the Yamashiro will not be available until March. She too will join Singapore to help the Junyo and Ryuho to watch over the Indian Ocean.
*** See November 1st for details of Japanese heavy cruisers at that date.

 

[Wings]

The Japanese air force at the end of 1942 and its evolution

The fighters
At the time when the last naval air battles of 1942 were being prepared, the carrier fighters are mostly Mitsubishi A6M3 mod.22 "Zero type" (Zeke) equipped with a Sakae 21 engine and an enlarged fuel tank which give them the same range as the slower Sakae 12-powered A6M2s that they replaced. The obsession of father of the Zero, Jiro Horikoshi, Mitsubishi's chief engineer, is weight. That is why, despite the results of the hard fighting of the first months of the war, these aircraft still lack self-sealing tanks, fire extinguishers and cockpit armor.
The A6M3 mod.22s remain as difficult as the A6M2s to control with ailerons above 200 knots. The improvement program launched by Jiro Horikoshi will make it possible to partially remedy this, raising this speed to 240-250 knots thanks to enlarged ailerons on the A6M3 mod.42, which entered service in January 1943.
The A6M3 mod.52, with propulsive exhausts that increase its speed by more than 10 knots, will arrive in February. After the failure of the A6M4 mod.53 with turbocharger, the time will come for the ultimate "Zero type" family, with the A6M5 with Kinsei-62 engine. The A6M5 mod.64 will enter in service from September 1943. The planes of the variant A6M5 mod.74, entering service in January-February 1944, will be the first Zero equipped with cockpit armor, self-sealing tanks and fire extinguishers. Although not as lively as their predecessors, they will save the lives of many young Japanese pilots in the latter part of the war. Finally, the A6M6 mod.84, equipped with a reinforced main spar and a 250 kg bomb launcher to answer the request of the general staff for a fighter-bomber, will enter service in 1944.

Torpedoing
The standard torpedo bomber of the Imperial Navy remained the Nakajima B5N2 (Kate). Its successor, the B6N Tenzan (Jill), experienced major development difficulties. The Nakajima Mamoru engine envisaged for the B6N1 proved to be unsuitable. Following an evaluation of the aircraft by a German mission in December 1941, the results of which caused the disgrace of more than one of Nakajima's engineers, it was decided to re-engineer the aircraft with a Mitsubishi MK4T Kaisei 25 engine, the aircraft becoming the B6N2.
But the MK4T, which powers the G4M, is very much in demand. Moreover, the terrible losses suffered by Kate's flotillas during the battles of the Coral Sea and the Solomon Islands led the Navy to request armor for the B6N - but at the expense of offensive load and/or full-load take-off capability from a carrier (the escort carriers will remain equipped with B5N2s). Because of all the necessary modifications and the relative lack of MK4T, in November 1942, the first B6N2 Tenzan of pre-production has just left the production lines. The serial production will start only in February 1943 and the operational conversion units will be equipped only in May.

The dive-bombing
For similar reasons, the Aichi D3A (Val) is still the main Japanese carrier dive bomber. The Yokosuka D4Y1 Suisei (Judy) should have already replaced it, but its wing does not hold the constraints of the resource after a dive - a crippling defect for a dive bomber! The spars and the wing attachment points have to be changed and the surface modify the surface sheeting. The Suisei suitable for dive-bombing only appeared in units in Japan in April 1943 and would only equip an aircraft carrier from July onwards.
The hole is filled, as best as possible, by improvements of the D3A, the D3A2 and D3A3, better protected than their elder D3A1 and (for the A3) equipped with the Mitsubishi Kinsei-62 engine (instead of the Kinsei-54).
If we already find D4Ys on the decks of the Combined Fleet, it is as fast reconnaissance aircraft. During 1943, the Japanese aircraft carriers also embarked some Suisei night fighters, equipped with a derivative of the German FuG 202 radar.
However, unlike the Zeros, all the bombers were now equipped with self-sealing tanks (the wall of the tank is covered with a thick coating of 3 mm which avoids that the least impact causes gasoline vapors to leak and a fatal explosion, but does not prevent fire, which will require the equipment to be equipped with fire extinguishers).

 

[Wings]

November 13th, 1942

Operation Zvezda - The 206. ID prepares defensive positions around Vöru, not without difficulty because of the harassment of the VVS. The 22. Panzer is on its way to help it, when a new Soviet assault starts.
Starting from the Ostrov salient (exactly from the Rodovoye sector), the tanks of the 4th Shock Army (ex-3rd Armored Army) attacks in the direction of the south and southwest, towards Vilaka and Balvi. The objective is obviously Rezekne.
On the southern flank, the Shestopalov Maneuver Group approaches Pushoshka.
.........
Baltic Front - In addition to the harassment of the VVS, the German soldiers have to face another difficulty, which they had not foreseen so early in the season: the severe cold wave which has lasted for a week has considerably hardened the ground. Not having any time to lose, the Germans are forced to make fires to loosen the ground.

 

[Wings]

November 13th, 1942

Kiev region - The VVS continue the offensive against enemy communications with more than 2,000 offensive sorties. They lose 27 aircraft, compared to 15 to the Luftwaffe.
On the ground, a violent attack of the 1st Cavalry Corps (Maj.Gen. Dovator), supported by the artillery of the river monitors brigade, drives the forces of the XIV. PanzerKorps of Hans Hube to 6km away from the Dniepr. In the evening, Hube himself leads a counter-offensive that recaptures half of the lost ground.
The intelligence of the 2. PanzerArmee notes the strengthening of the Soviet defenses around Shpola and Cherkassy.

 

[Wings]

November 13th, 1942

Treviso - General Ambrosio comes to meet Ribbentrop, Keitel and Halder. He finds a city practically occupied by the German army, and the station itself is closely guarded by the SS.
The discussions last all day. The Germans refuse to see the Italian troops abandon the Greek front where they had (Keitel dixit) "covered themselves with glory". For his part, Ambrosio is opposed to the presence of seven German divisions in northern Italy.
Finally, a compromise is reached. The Germans accept (at least in appearance) the principle of an Italian withdrawal from Greece spread over six months. The Italians accept that, to replace them, German troops are transferred from France and Bavaria through... the Po plain.
The question of the Italian occupation zone in France poses fewer problems. Savoy, the Nice region and the French Riviera are currently the stronghold of the 4th Italian Army (General Mario Vercellino, a good-natured royalist appointed ten days earlier). The 58th ID Legnano and the 105th ID semi-motorized Rovigo (I CA, General Curio Barbasetti di Prun) occupy the coast between Cannes and Nice; they will gradually give way to German units to redeploy respectively to Genoa-La Spezia and Turin. The 7th DI Lupi di Toscana and the 48th DI Taro (XXIInd CA, General Alfonso Ollearo) occupy Nice and the Maritime Alps; they have to move towards Rome - but General Ollearo, whose fascist sympathies are known, is reluctant to give up Mussolini's dearly paid conquests. Finally, the 5th DI Alpine Pusteria occupies Savoy (HQ in Grenoble), it has to stay there for the time being.
Keitel, all smiles, declares: "Since we have reached a satisfactory agreement, I have the pleasure, in the name of the Führer, of inviting the King, the Crown Prince and the head of the new Italian government, Marshal Badoglio, to go to Munich in the next few days to meet the Führer himself, as well as his principal ministers!" Ambrosio, aware of the trap, hesitates and explains that he cannot commit himself to the highestauthorities of his country. Keitel smiles and said he understands, but that evening he calls Hitler on the phone: "The Italians have not accepted our proposal for a meeting of the leaders of the two countries, my Führer. It is obvious that they are playing a double game, I am sure that they are trying to negotiate with the Allies."

Turin, Milan, Cuneo - Demonstrators demand "coal and bread". They are severely repressed by the police, which gives the clandestine press the opportunity to denounce "the fascism after fascism".

Naples - New daytime raid of the Allied aviation.

Milan - The city is attacked during the night by British bombers from Sicily.

 

[Wings]

November 13th, 1942

Off Alghero, 08:30 GMT - The submarine HMS P211/Safari (Cdr B. Bryant) sinks the trawler Bice (249 GRT). This modest victory is the first one obtained this month by the allied submariners operating from the western Mediterranean to the Aegean. A second one follows a few hours later that same day, the HMS P212/Sahib (Lt. J.H. Bromage) torpedoes the Italian cargo ship Scillin (1,579 GRT) off Bastia.
But this is a far cry from the seven successes achieved between 1 and 12 November by the British, French and Greek airmen. These airmen sent to the bottom of the sea by various means (bombs, torpedoes, but also on-board weapons) no less than seven ships, four Italian and three German, for a total of 11,287 GRT. The major success was achieved by the French SBD-3 of the AB-12: covered by Banshees of Sqn 248, they sank off Otranto, at the cost of one of their own shot down by the escort's flak, the Italian tanker Portofino (6,424 GRT). In addition to the Portofino, the Italian losses consist of three small coasters. The German losses include the cargo ship Thessalia (2,875 GRT) and two coasters

 

[Wings]

November 14th, 1942

Saint-Nazaire - The U-Boot silos are bombed by 34 B-17 flying at their maximum altitude. The accuracy is very poor, but all the aircraft return.

 

[Wings]

November 14th, 1942

Berchtesgaden (Bavarian Alps) - Hitler continues his series of meetings with the heads of state of the Axis. Ante Pavelic, Poglavnik (i.e., conductor - Duce or Führer in other languages) of Croatia, is not the most powerful, but he is one of the most loyal, and the most zealous in cleansing his territory of Jews, Gypsies and other dubious elements.
The Poglavnik is proud of a victory he has won a few days earlier over Tito's "red bandits". He forgot to mention the contribution of the Italians to this success, especially as he hoped to take advantage of the disgrace of Rome to recover part of the territories that have been under Italian occupation since 1941. The Führer replies curtly that it is too early to think about this: as long as Mussolini is alive and there is still a hope of putting him back in power, there is no question of giving the Italian conspirators a pretext for going over to the camp of the Allies. The Poglavnik has to swallow another snake: the creation of a Croatian Muslim unit under German tutelage.
Pavelic knows that he would gain nothing by contradicting Hitler: he reserves himself for a better opportunity. He obtains, all the same, promises of armament and economic aid to preserve the Adriatic coast from a possible landing.

 

[Wings]

November 14th, 1942

Madrid - Henri du Moulin de Labarthète is a high ranking civil servant with a career already well packed. Formerly assistant to the chief of staff of Finance Ministers Chéron and Reynaud in 1928-1930, he followed Reynaud to the Colonies between 1931 and 1932 and became his chief of staff. He was also his chief of staff at the Ministry of Justice. He was then appointed director of the Bank of French West Africa. Back at the Ministry of Finance in November 1938, Reynaud took him back as chief of staff. In May 1939, the same Reynaud, Minister of Finance, appointed him as financial attaché to the French Embassy in Madrid. Labarthète will be an appreciated collaborator of the ambassador, that is, of Philippe Pétain. Thus, he had to implement the decision, taken by the government at the insistence of the Marshal, to deliver to Franco the gold of the
Spanish Republicans, which they had deposited in France.
Curiously, next to this curriculum of servant of the Republic, Labarthète never hid his monarchist opinions...
He was mobilized in September 1939, but in October, he was appointed by his friend Raoul Dautry, Minister of Armament, as head of a mission to purchase war material in Spain and Portugal, notably for the purchase of pyrite and mercury. He lived in Lisbon.
At the end of 1940, he decided to join the government in Algiers - with Pétain disappearing, it seems natural that he chose to work with his boss Reynaud rather than with Laval. At his request, he returned to Madrid, not of course to the embassy, occupied by Pierre-Etienne Flandin, appointed by Laval, but in the consulate, where André François-Poncet was the ambassador of Algiers.
It is in the capacity of a loyal member of the President of the Council that he is sending him today, without François-Poncet knowing, a most disturbing message.
Labarthète explains that he had thought it wise to keep in touch with an employee of the embassy, a man named René Morillon, whom he had met during his stay in Madrid in 1939 and who, having not left his post, works today for Flandin. The latter, who seems to see the most secret mails of the lavalistic embassy pass, revealed to him by patriotism a gigantic plot which could make the Republic fall... Labarthète specifies that he has first doubted, then that concordant noises returned to him from his Spanish contacts and even, through them, from the German and Italian embassies.
Moreover, Morillon had proved his reliability to him a month earlier by giving him the elements which made it possible to expel from Spain the man named Theodor Auer, pseudo-economic adviser of the German embassy and in reality an efficient spy recruiter. Photos and documents showing Auer's homosexuality shocked the very Catholic Franco, who asked the German embassy to repatriate this sulphurous character as soon as possible. Morillon did not hide that this information had been sent to Flandin, "for all purposes", by Deloncle*.
Of course, it will take a few weeks to gather evidence, but it will be necessary to keep an extreme discretion until then - including in Algiers: Labarthète adjured Reynaud not to trust anyone.
The President of the Council is skeptical, but this was war and anything, he knew, could happen... He nevertheless speaks to Soustelle, the head of the intelligence services. He is also skeptical, but he can't neglect anything either.

* We do not know how Deloncle obtained these documents - did he play on the war of services that was tearing apart the German intelligence services? In any case, until his death, the man intrigued in all directions, with all possible interlocutors.

 

[Wings]

November 14th, 1942

Port Moresby and London - "The arrival at Lae of the Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki (Tojo) meant that, in the New Guinea theater, the RAAF, whose Hurricanes had carried most of the air combat burden since mid-1942, was decidedly outclassed.
Up until then, the Hurricane had stood up to the Ki-43, provided of the removal of the bulkyVokes filter (called by the pilots "the bloody Vokes filter") which protected the carburettor but caused a loss of about 40 km/h: thus, the Hurricane had a speed advantage that counterbalanced the superior handling of the Hayabusa; moreover, the Hurricane was more robust and could withstand many of the bursts of the Ki-43's two 12.7's, while the latter was shredded by a burst from its opponent's eight .303 machine guns, not to mention the four 20 mm of the IIC version. Certainly, the removal of the filter condemned the engines to accelerated wear (the terrain deprives Port Moresby of rain and the local climate is semi-deserted, while thirty kilometers away, there is a humid tropical jungle). But this inconvenience was acceptable, especially since Australia manufactured its own Hurricanes.
But the Ki-44, better armed, faster, better climbing, much better stinging and more robust than the Ki-43, was globally superior to the Hurricane. The Australian pilots realized this in the first engagements. Their losses increased immediately and Air Vice-Marshal Goble sent a telegram to London, which ended with the following message "My men will continue to fight the new Japanese fighter with their present equipment, even though they know that their only hope is to make the enemy pay as dearly as possible for their lives as possible to the enemy while waiting for their successors."
In London, the Air Ministry received this telegram at 01:45 on November 14th, 1942. Attached to it was a description of the Ki-44, based on the wreckage recovered at Port Moresby and the combat reports of the pilots. The conclusion was that this machine, although light in structure, was superior in every way to the Messerschmitt 109E. It visibly outperformed the Hurricane.
What could be done to help the Australians? In Washington, the decision to redeploy to Port Moresby one of the Pursuit Groups based in Australia (such as the 35th Pursuit Group, which had defended the Darwin and Townsville area against Imperial Navy air attacks), had already been taken. But these units were only equipped with Curtiss P-40 and it was feared that the P-40s would not be much more comfortable than the Hurricane against the new Japanese fighter.
The new Spitfires would certainly have done the job - Sqn 452 (RAAF), 457 (RAAF) and 54 (RAF), were based in Darwin, Brisbane and Sydney, largely for imperial propaganda, and Sqn 452's planes were used to cover the attack on Milne Bay by the Australian Manchesters, but Fighter Command refused to part with a single Spit. Spitfires were needed in Europe and even Canberra and Wellington accepted it.
Someone in the Ministry then remembered that the previous June, the RAF command in Burma had asked London to look into ways of improving the performance of the Hurricane. The Hurricane was well suited to the Burmese terrain - solid, reliable and with a wide track. In their spare time, specialists at Hawker had found a way to treat the canvas covering certain parts of the plane against tropical mold and others had developed a new fairing for the Vokes filter, which reduced by three quarters the speed handicap inflicted on the plane. But of course, all this was not enough...
At 17:00 the same day, the Air Ministry organized an emergency meeting at the highest level with the representatives of Rolls Royce and Hawker. The latter noted that the Hurricane, which was no longer a second line fighter, was naturally using engines of an old model. They were then informed (with some vivacity) that in Asia-Pacific, the plane was still in the front line and that it was urgent to improve it. Sidney Camm, Hawker's chief engineer, said that within a month, it was possible to test a modified airframe, slightly lighter and with an all-aluminum skin;
The Australians could start production of this airframe a month later. Stanley Hooker, head of the Merlin team at Rolls Royce, promised that a Merlin suitable for the Hurricane could be put into service. When asked about the delay, Hooker spoke briefly with the Hawker people before answering: "We guarantee you a more powerful Merlin with a suitable propeller, developed, installed and flight-tested within fourteen days. We guarantee twenty engine-propeller kits ready for installation, with company engineers to train the reserve crews and mechanics, within twenty-one days. We guarantee 200 kits built, ready to be installed and crated within twenty-eight days. Tell the pilots."
Then he added, "You can probably fly the first few kits and our engineers. But the rest will represent three hundred tons of crates. Maybe the Admiralty could help us out?"
Finally, the Admiralty lent a hand, in the form of the County class heavy cruiser HMS London. She made the trip from Portsmouth to Melbourne via Suez in 26 days, at an average speed of 23.5 knots. Rolls Royce had more than kept its word, as the London was able to deliver 120 engine and propeller kits to Colombo before delivering 240 to Melbourne.
When he docked on January 8th, 1943, trucks lined up on the dock were already ready to leave and the streets had been closed to traffic to allow them to move more quickly to deliver the engines to the Fisherman's Bend plant, where the first hundred airframes were impatiently waiting. The new aircraft, officially labeled Hurricane III, was often referred to as the Super-Hurricane. Eventually, 200 of them were built in Australia, to which can be added Hurricane IIs equipped with the new engine in India. The episode gave rise to a film entitled Bonds of Empire, Bonds as in friendship or family ties, which will be remembered as one of the most effective propaganda films of the time. The filmmakers went so far as to re-enact the meeting at the Air Ministry with its participants, providing a remarkable reference for historians.
(...)
But in November 1942, the RAAF did not only need fighters. Its needs were so great that, while waiting for the arrival of the American B-25 and B-26, it drew again from its ample supply of Fairey Battles, to turn them into night stalkers based at Port Moresby. While the Battles could not hope to survive by day, they could harm the Japanese at night, in the Milne Bay area or in Papua. They thus acquired a well-deserved reputation for reliability during these sorties, which surprised many specialists. Their nuisance were at least at the level of those that the Ki-48s inflicted on the allied bases.
The question of the Battle was also discussed at the Air Ministry, especially since Fairey continued to produce these machines for training. Since the Battle used a Merlin I, the matter came to the attention of Rolls Royce, who informed the Ministry that a Battle had been equipped at Hucknall with an experimental Rolls Royce Exe engine (giving 1,150 HP at take-off) and that this aircraft was in daily service as a liaison aircraft in Great Britain. The Exe had proved to be very reliable and the performances of the Battle had been improved. Rolls Royce proposed a kit to upgrade the Merlin I to Exe standard, delivered complete with flame arrestor (since the intended use was at night). At Fairey, aircraft lovers, who were not consoled by the fact that the Battle was only one of the martyrs of May 1940, proposed a series of simple and inexpensive modifications to facilitate night flying. The whole thing was approved. The need expressed by the RAAF was only 150 "Night Battles", but Fairey and Rolls Royce informed the Ministry that production in such small quantities was wasteful and that it was better to build all future Battles to this standard - the usefulness of the trainer would be even greater (it would notably allow night flight training). Finally, 120 Night Battles were delivered to RAAF combat units, 30 were used by the RAF in the Balkans and 200 were supplied to the Royal Indian Air Force, which retroceded about 20 of them to the Belgian Public Force. The Indian and Belgian Night Battles acquired an excellent reputation in Burma, notably in the hands of the famous Gérard Greindl.
In the RAAF, the Night Battles remained in active service until the 1950s, as part of reserve squadrons. In the early 1960s, the RAAF recovered some of them during the Malayan Emergency, to use them as flare launchers during night operations, and during the Confrontation against Indonesia, to harass Indonesian units that infiltrated Sabah and Sarawak at night.
The Indian Air Force also kept its Battles for many years. The last ones were withdrawn from schools in 1971. They continued to be used for mechanic training until the 1980s, when all those that still looked like an aircraft were absorbed by the private warbird market. One of them was however restored, repainted in the colors of Greindl's plane and offered by India to Belgium, for its Army Museum."
According to B. Marcus, The Australian Armed Forces in World War II.

 

[Wings]

November 14th, 1942

Buna region - General Vasey consolidates the encirclement of the three Japanese garrisons (Gona, Buna, Sanananda) by his three brigades. Many small clashes still occur, but it is a war of patrols that the AIF can only win, because the Japanese lack manpower. Defending the entire area in front of the lines they had created would cost them too much and they are forced to withdraw to their positions, accepting to be cut in three.
The Australians take the advantage, but pay for it in fatigue, disease and casualties in combat. They know their enemy better, and they do not like what they discover. The Japanese are determined, well-trained, well-equipped, fairly well-supplied, and literally don't know the meaning of the phrase "give quarter". But the Australians already know this - the lessons learned by the AMF have been learned by all.

 

[Wings]

November 14th, 1942

Guadalcanal - Allied transports are now landing the heavy equipment of the 8th Marines Rgt. An intense air battle is developing, but fighters from four US Navy aircraft carriers are being mobilized to help the Henderson Field fighters cover the operation and the Japanese only manage to uselessly lose a dozen Bettys and six Zeros, in exchange for eight Allied fighters.
On the ground, the 2nd and 5th Rgt start a painful nibbling of the Japanese positions. The loss of their heavy artillery has simplified the work of the defenders: they are content to make the Americans lose time, without holding on to any particular point.
.........
Solomon Islands - At dusk, Allied reconnaissance in the "Slot" reports "Four destroyers". This is a mistake, but the American PBY responsible has the excuse that he had to flee from a Japanese fighter patrol at the same time. In fact, it is Admiral Goto, heading southeast with two heavy cruisers, Mikuma and Mogami,escorted by the four destroyers of the 8th Division.
.........
Ironbottom Sound - Admiral Crace has re-enacted an "ABDF-Fleet". Around his flagship, the British battlecruiser HMS Renown, he assembled two Australians, the light cruiser HMAS Brisbane and the destroyer HMAS Arunta, the four Dutch destroyers HNLMS Van Ghent, Van Nes, Witte de With and Isaac Sweers*, plus the French heavy cruiser
MN Tourville, which had just arrived in the Southwest Pacific. With a chuckle, the French teammates already described the area as "a very unpleasant place to live, but a very good place to get sunk."
While awaiting the completion of repairs on HMAS Australia and HMNZS Achilles, this ABDF-Fleet carries out a new shelling of Japanese positions at the beginning of the night. The effect of 6 x 380, 8 x 203 and 12 x 152 is less brutal than the 18 x 406 and 12 x 152 of the American artillery the day before, but extremely unpleasant for the Japanese Army, which accuses the Fleet of negligence.
Goto is not far behind and rushes into the Bay, but he misses Crace's fleet by less than half an hour. Frustrated, his cruisers blindly shell the Allied positions. Goto then heads north, harassed by the Swordfish of the Zaelandia.

* The Isaac Sweers was repaired in Australia in record time after the Second Battle of Savo Island. The Australian shipyard workers have a soft spot for all the Europeans who came from the antipodes to fight on their side, even if the defense or recovery of their colonies was the main reason for their presence.

 

[Wings]

November 14th, 1942

Operation Zvezda - The 7th and 4th Armies reach the positions of the 206. ID in front of Vöru. After a first attempt to outflank them, but without success, the Soviets do not insist and decide to wait for the next day to mount a full-scale attack. On their side, the Germans feverishly dig in.
The 22. Panzer will not come to the rescue of the defenders of Vöru - the German command needs it to face the threat of the attack of the 4th Shock Army. To face is not the most appropriate expression! Indeed, if the 93. ID will be thrown on the axis of progression of the 4th Shock Army, von der Chevallerie's tanks are to be launched on the western flank of this army, obligingly exposed by the direction of the Soviet push (it is true that Popov was forced to attack on three axes, which did not leave him many possibilities to guard this side).
To support the 206. ID against the pincer attack of two Soviet armies, AG North asks the 18. Armee to lend to the 16. Armee the only reserve division which had been assigned to it, the 96. ID (General Joachim von Schleinitz). This one is at rest since the fighting of Saaremaa.
On the southern flank, the Shestopalov Maneuver Group captures Pustoshka. The 269. ID is content to delay the Soviet advance to better defend the Oposhka sector, while waiting for the arrival of mechanized units of the 3. PzGr.

 

[Wings]

November 14th, 1942

Kiev region - Another day of intense air activity. The VVS carry out 3,453 sorties, both in ground attack, on communication lines, and in bombing, on Gomel and Kozyatyne. They lose 59 aircraft, against 37 for the Luftwaffe.
The fictitious HQ of the 2nd Ukrainian Front ostensibly moves to Shpola, while it is the turn of the troops of the Mobile Group Katukov to embark to join their bases of departure, under Kiev.
Agitprop groups are now active on all Fronts.

 

[Wings]

November 14th, 1942

Near Serbka (northeast of Odessa) - "Sergeant Nataniel Comenaci was looking at the 37 mm Skoda anti-tank gun with a possessive look. It is true that the weapon was technologically outdated, ineffective against T-34s and KV-1s and not very effective against T-50s...
But it was his gun. Fortunately, many Russian units (Comenaci never said "Soviet") were still equipped with T-26s or BT-7Ms, which remained vulnerable to this small gun with wooden wheels and a tiny shield barely able to stop rifle bullets.
Pulled by a horse, the gun moved forward with the long snake of men and carriages that progressed along the railroad tracks. Next to Comenaci, Private Moldovan pouted:
"Say, Sergeant, is it true that we're going to replace our cannon?"
Comenaci could not help but chuckle. They were moving faster than the quartermaster, bogged down in the stinking mud.
- That's what the leaders said. But I'll believe it when I see that new cannon!
Unimpressed by his superior's lack of enthusiasm, the soldier continued, "I heard that the Germans are giving us anti-tank guns!"
- Yes.
Moldovan's enthusiasm annoyed the sergeant, but he did not dare to dampen his companion's good mood. Yes, the Germans were giving PaK 38s to their allies... but this 50 mm gun was unable to pierce the armor of the T-34. Anyway, a PaK 38 would always be an improvement.
- But I think we'll get a Russian gun instead", he muttered, more to himself than to Moldovan.
Not a ZiS-2, unfortunately. The few guns of this type that had been captured had been sent to Romania for study or mounted on the TACAM T-50 tank hunters.
As for them, they would probably receive a 45 mm, 53-K or M-42 gun...
Hearing the sound of engines, Commenaci looked up to the sky. Planes emerged from the low clouds. Heavy single-engine planes marked with the red star. Suddenly, the sergeant was no longer worried about the lack of effective anti-tank weapons in the Romanian army...because they also lacked anti-aircraft weapons.
The Il-2 Sturmoviks dived. At the first pass, they dumped their bombs, then came back and emptied their 20 mm guns in the chaos."
(According to Jean Mabire, op. cit.)

 

[Wings]

November 14th, 1942

Rome - Badoglio, returned from Cosenza, meets Ambrosio. Together they take stock of the situation. The Germans' doubts are now palpable. General Carboni, who attended the second part of the meeting, informs them that the German army installs "military cells" in the cities of northern and central Italy. It becomes urgent to negotiate with the Allies! Badoglio then decides that General Castellano will leave the next day... but during the day, he cancels this order: "It is important," he says, "that Castellano be able to meet the King before leaving."
.........
Northern Italy - Soldiers of the Luftwaffe appear at the main airfields of the Po Valley, ostensibly to set up the logistics necessary to move a force of fighters. Caught off guard, Marshal Badoglio orders the Italian forces to "cooperate with our German ally". When he learns of this, General Ambrosio rushes to Badoglio and begs him to cancel the order. "No, no," replies Badoglio, "we cannot refuse the Germans everything! That would give them hints!"
.........
Milan - Today, the news that interests Italians the most is the arrest of the Petacci family in their villa in Meina, on Lake Maggiore. It is true that Clara (or Claretta) Petacci is the quasi official mistress of Mussolini. Only her brother, Marcello, manages to escape and hide. The rest of the family is led to Milan, under good escort, and the personal letters of Mussolini to Claretta are confiscated.